QUICK PREVIEWTied with West Virginia for third place in the Big 12, No. 21/23 Oklahoma (17-6, 6-4) returns home after a pair of road games to host Baylor (14-8, 2-7) on Saturday at 6 p.m. CT inside Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners, who have lost two games in a row for the first time this season, are looking for their fourth straight win over the Bears and 36th in the last 41 matchups. Baylor, which started the year 13-2 (ascended to No. 7 in the AP poll), has lost six of its last seven.

ON THE AIRSaturday’s contest will air on the Sooner Radio Network (KRXO 107.7 FM "The Franchise" in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa; Sirius 113; XM 193) with Toby Rowland and Mike Houck calling the action. The game will be televised by ESPN2 with Dave Flemming and Jimmy Dykes announcing.

TICKETS• Tickets are available for $10, $20 and $30 at the OU Athletics Ticket Office (800-456-4668) and online at SoonerSports.com. Lloyd Noble Center's north and east ticket windows will open Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW• Oklahoma owns a 40-10 series lead against Baylor and has won 35 of the last 40 meetings (includes a streak of 30 straight wins that was snapped four years ago). The Sooners possess a 19-4 series advantage in games played in Norman. OU is 31-5 against the Bears since the inception of the Big 12 Conference (15-2 at Lloyd Noble Center; average scoring margin in those 17 games is +18.5).

• In Oklahoma’s 66-64 win over the 12th-ranked Bears in Waco on Jan. 18, Buddy Hield was 7-for-11 from the field and 4-for-8 from 3-point range after halftime to account for all of his game-high 19 points. The Sooners trailed by eight points early in the second half before using a 16-0 run to help snap Baylor’s 13-game home winning streak (box score on page 24).

• Oklahoma is shooting a stellar .425 from 3-point range in its 12 home games this year. OU’s top six scorers on the season are shooting a combined .455 (85-for-187) from behind the arc at Lloyd Noble Center. Opponents are shooting .346 in the building from long distance.

• Sophomore forward Ryan Spangler has performed at an All-Big 12 level the past eight games, averaging 12.1 points and 12.6 rebounds while shooting .517 from the field and .817 from the free throw line. He has six double-digit rebounding efforts in those eight games (nine boards in each of the other two), and has grabbed at least 14 rebounds in four of them. At 11.1 points and 10.2 rebounds a contest on the season, Spangler is the only player in the Big 12 and one of just 14 nationally to average a double-double (one of just three players in the Atlantic Coast, American, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12 and Southeastern Conferences combined). His nine double-doubles lead the Big 12 and he has shot at least 50 percent from the field in 20 of 23 games. He is shooting .830 (39-for-47) from the free throw line in Big 12 play (ranks third in league) after shooting just .540 (27-for-50) in pre-conference action.

• Hield has led OU in scoring in six of its 10 Big 12 games (four of the last six) and has finished with at least 15 points in eight league contests. The sophomore guard ranks second in the league with his 3.3 treys per Big 12 outing and is shooting .423 from behind the arc in those games. Hield has scored in double figures in 22 of 23 games this season after doing it just seven times all of last year.

PREVIEWING BAYLOR• Picked third in the Big 12 preseason coaches poll, Baylor (14-8 overall) went 12-1 in pre-conference play (lone loss to current No. 1 Syracuse in Maui Invitational title game) but is 2-7 in Big 12 games. The Bears have lost six of their last seven, with their lone win during the stretch coming last Saturday at then-No. 8 Oklahoma State (76-70). In Big 12 play, Baylor ranks ninth in scoring (68.4 ppg), fifth in scoring defense (72.7), ninth in field goal percentage (.405), third in 3-point field goal percentage (.364), last in free throw percentage (.643) and third in rebounding margin (+3.9 per game). It has been outrebounded just four times on the year.

• Baylor sports a balanced scoring attack, with four players averaging in double figures. Senior forward Cory Jefferson is averaging team highs of 12.6 points and 8.0 rebounds (ranks fourth in Big 12) on .521 field goal shooting and has seven double-doubles (tied for second in league). Senior guard Brady Heslip averages 11.3 points a contest while leading the league in 3-pointers per game (3.0) and ranking second in 3-point field goal percentage (.468). Junior point guard Kenny Chery averages 10.6 points and 4.8 assists per game (fourth most in league) while shooting .851 from the foul line. He had team highs of 16 points and five assists against OU on Jan. 18. Sophomore center Isaiah Austin, a high school teammate of OU’s Je’lon Hornbeak, is averaging 10.0 points, 5.5 boards and a Big 12-leading 2.7 blocks per outing.

• Scott Drew is in his 11th year as Baylor’s head coach and owns a 192-146 (.568) record at the school.

SOONER TIP-INS• The Sooners are ranked No. 21 and 23 in this week’s AP and USA Today Coaches Polls, respectively. OU made its season debut in the AP top 25 Jan. 13, its first appearance in either major poll since Nov. 23, 2009.

• Oklahoma is the only team in the country to start the same lineup every game this season while having all five of those players average double figures in scoring. The quintet has accounted for 79 percent of the team’s points on the year. No other Big 12 team has started the same lineup every game this season.

• In Big 12 play, Oklahoma paces all squads with its .782 free throw percentage. The Big 12 single-season record for conference play is .798 by OU in 2002. The Sooners have shot better from the free throw line than their opponent in nine of 10 Big 12 games.

• After averaging 70.6 points per game last season, this year’s Sooners are averaging 83.7 points to rank ninth nationally. The last time OU averaged more than 80.0 points per game for an entire season was in 1994-95 (81.7 ppg in Kelvin Sampson’s first year as head coach; see chart above right).

• The Sooners have scored at least 40 points in 30 of 46 halves this season. Last year, they scored 40 in a half 17 times all season.

• OU has had at least five double-digit scorers in eight games this season after it accomplished the feat three times all of last year.

• Oklahoma ranks second in the Big 12 with its 8.2 treys per game in league action (Iowa State averages 8.3).

• Despite standing just 6-8, sophomore forward Ryan Spangler has won the opening tip in 15 of 23 games this year (also won tip in both of team’s overtime sessions).

• Spangler has recorded 13 double-digit rebounding games, compared to seven by last year’s entire roster.

• OU reached the 80-point mark seven times last season. This year’s Sooners have already hit 80 points in 15 of 23 games.

• As a junior last year, Cameron Clark attempted one 3-point field goal (he made it). This season, he is 23-for-54 (.426) from deep.

• Clark joined OU’s 1,000-point club Dec. 30 against Louisiana Tech and ranks 29th on the all-time scoring list with 1,131 points.

• Freshman Jordan Woodard ranks second in the Big 12 in free throw makes (125) and third in attempts (162). Named the Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Week on Dec. 17, Woodard has attempted 10 or more free throws seven times. Interestingly, 73 percent of his free throw attempts have come after halftime. Woodard is averaging 11.8 points and 4.7 assists (leads all Big 12 freshmen and sophomores) while ranking fifth in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.1) and eighth in free throw percentage (.772). Over the last four games, he is averaging 16.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists while shooting .543 from the field and .778 from 3 (7-for-9).

• After averaging 2.7 points last season and never scoring more than 10 points in a game prior to Nov. 22 of this year, sophomore guard Isaiah Cousins has scored in double figures in 11 of the last 20 contests. Cousins shot .279 from the field and .250 (10 makes) from 3-point distance a year ago but is shooting .435 and .356 (21 makes) this season.

• Senior forward Tyler Neal registered no double-digit scoring games last season but has seven this year, including two in the last three games (scored a then season-high 15 against Oklahoma State and netted 16 Wednesday at West Virginia). He is shooting .470 from the field and .435 from 3-point range (20-for-46) after shooting .214 and .261 last season.

UP NEXTOU hosts Texas Tech on Wednesday at 7 p.m. CT. The game will be televised by the Big 12 Network.

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